FSM
Stadium Security
The Blind Spot Above The Stadium Why one Premier League club decided that modern stadium security needed to look upwards as well as outwards!
Security teams at major sporting venues have become highly sophisticated at understanding what is happening around their perimeter. CCTV, access control, stewarding, intelligence and policing arrangements provide an increasingly detailed picture at ground level.
But what about the airspace above them?
For one Premier League football club, that question first emerged as drone use in the conflict in Ukraine demonstrated just how capable and accessible unmanned aircraft had become.
The club did not conclude that an attack involving a drone was imminent. Instead, it added drones to its risk register and began asking a more fundamental question: if a drone appeared around the stadium, what would the security team actually know about it? The answer initially was: surprisingly little.
Before installing a detection system, the club largely depended upon visual sightings. A member of security might see a drone and radio the control room, but determining where it had come from, where its operator was located or whether it had previously been seen around the venue was difficult.
As recreational drone activity increased, that became an increasingly obvious gap in situational awareness.
From Observation To Evidence
In January 2025, Drone Defence installed a persistent drone- detection capability at the stadium. The club's priorities were straightforward: the system needed to be easy to use, monitor the airspace proactively and allow known aircraft to be distinguished from drones of interest.
It is now incorporated into both everyday and match-day security procedures. The security team monitors drone activity and can escalate incidents to the police where appropriate.
The immediate advantage is earlier detection. But perhaps more valuable over time has been the creation of an evidence base. Instead of isolated reports that somebody saw a drone, the club can retain records of detected aircraft, flight activity and dates, and create incident reports where required.
That data has also changed its understanding of the problem. Once persistent monitoring was introduced, the club discovered increased levels of drone activity around the stadium that had previously gone unnoticed.
This is an important distinction for other venue operators. The business case for airspace awareness does not have to begin with stopping a catastrophic event. It can begin much more simply:
Do we actually know what is happening above our venue? 10 FSM A Proportionate Approach
Drone detection is sometimes associated with complex military counter-UAS systems, specialist operators and significant capital expenditure. That does not have to be the starting point.
For a stadium, the requirement may simply be persistent visibility integrated into the security operation that already exists: detect activity, distinguish authorised aircraft where possible, retain the evidence and give security personnel useful information on which to act.
Modern systems can also be delivered as a service, materially reducing the capital commitment normally associated with introducing a new security capability. That changes the internal conversation from “Do we need a counter-drone system?” to the much more useful question: “What level of airspace awareness is proportionate for our venue?”
Looking Upwards
The forthcoming implementation of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act, widely known as Martyn's Law, has further sharpened the club's focus on evidence-based security planning.
The legislation does not require stadiums to install drone- detection technology, and the club is careful not to suggest otherwise. Its conclusion is more pragmatic: a rigorous assessment of foreseeable threats to a major venue increasingly needs to consider what is happening above the perimeter as well as what is happening around it.
For other stadium operators, five questions provide a useful starting point: • Do we know how frequently drones operate
around our venue? • Can we distinguish authorised activity from an
unknown aircraft? • Could we provide useful evidence to the police
following an incident? • Is airspace considered within our existing match-day and security procedures? • Have we established what persistent airspace awareness would actually cost?
The club's advice to its peers is simple: do not wait for regulation to name a technology before considering the threat. First understand what is actually happening in the airspace around your venue. You may be surprised by what you find.
For more information, please visit:
www.DroneDefence.co.uk
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